Page:Poetry of the Magyars.djvu/86

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lxiv
INTRODUCTION.

and Jena to be trained to the office of Librarian. After an absence of two years he returned, and died in his thirtieth year, in 1812. His friend Döbrentei published some of his poems in the Erdélyi Museum, with an affectionate and eulogistic notice (Pt. II. pp. 102—116).

Döbrentei has translated several of Shakspeare's plays, and his Magyar Macbeth was represented at Poson during the sittings of the Diet in 1825. His epic Kenyérmezei Diadal, Victory of Kenyermezö́, a sort of Ossianic composition, has been translated into German by Count Mailáth. There is a charming popular tone about some of his productions, while others give evidence of a high and cultivated taste. His origin is noble—his birth-place Hö́gyész. His early productions obtained for him the favor of the Soprony Literary Society, whose transactions he edited in 1804. After travel in foreign lands, he became the preceptor of the young Count Gyulai, of Transylvania. He again left his country for Italy in 1814, and on his return established the Erdélyi Museum at Kolosvár, one of the most valuable contributions to Magyar literature. Men of every sect united to assist this interesting undertaking, and its pages will be found ornamented with the works of Catholics and Calvin-